More Morons in Cars

Well, it seems that drivers in the Ballantyne area keep finding more ways to be stupid. As I was driving to work this morning, I was stopped at a light behind about 7 other cars waiting to turn left. However, after about a minute and a half, the light still hadn't changed. With my normal lack of patience, I cut over to the right lane in order to use my "alternate" driving plan. However, as I approached the light (now in the right turn lane), I noticed the problem: Some dumb woman in an SUV was distracted by something (remarkably not a cellphone), and had not pulled all the way up to the stop line. In fact, she was about a car length behind the line, meaning she hadn't even gotten up to the spot needed to trigger the light change. So, being the good citizen that I am, I honked my horn at her, and waived her up to the line. Needless to say, she wasn't very thankful (despite the fact that everyone behind her probably was), yet as she crept up, wouldn't you know it, but the light then turned green!

I used to think it was just those over 60 that needed bi-annual road tests. I'm beginning to think the rule should apply to anyone driving an SUV (since the amount of attention paid while driving seems in inverse proportion to the size of your vehicle).

In other news, Papa John's has ended their Tuesday buy 1, get 1 free deal. So I had to opt for the 2 large-2 toppings for $16.69 tonight. Oh, and ever since they instituted a delivery charge, I've been picking mine up. That has 2 added bonuses. First, no tip. Second, for every 5 pick ups, you get a free large 1 topping pizza. I've already gotten 2 free ones, have enough for a third, and am working on a 4th. Yes, I love Papa John's.

While I probably won't start my search until next year, I'm trying to find a restaurant where I can become a "regular". Some place where they'll eventually greet me by name and show me to my regular table. I want it to be relatively close by (so you can eliminate any place in Downtown Charlotte or parts north), so I won't have far to get home. But at the same time, it needs to have a variety of food, because I might not feel like having the same thing each time. Anyone got any suggestions?

The Onion Article of the Day

OK, I saw this one about a week ago, and while it's from 2004, I was actually in tears during part of this. Odds are you know SOMEBODY'S mom who's like this. Fortunately, mine wasn't this bad.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39425

I'M BACK (AGAIN), BEE-OTCH!!

OK, so I’m sitting around, and slightly on the bored side. Baseball season is over. College hoops won’t get underway for another 3 weeks or so. I’ve already talked to the parents (more on that in a bit), and I’ve got towels in the dryer. So what to do? Well, after antagonizing my nemesis Ann with some comments out of the blue on her blog (which seems to have quieted down following my departure, making me wonder who her “friends” were actually coming to read), I figured, hell, why not put something up again here??

So what’s been happening? Well, outside of the aforementioned laundry, I’m munching on some Chex Mix and listening to XM8 (the 80’s channel) while writing this. The parents just got back home from a trip to Florida visiting Grandma and looking at retirement communities for her & Cliff. Dad’s thrilled to be back. In fact, he was so excited, he went down to the basement this morning and busted the water heater. Chad discovered a downtown of a major city that he doesn’t despise (Denver) while celebrating his first anniversary with Michele (congrats, kids). And I’ve made some people at TNG (yep, I’m still consulting there) envious over my Wednesday plans.

Let’s start with those plans. Wednesday afternoon, TNG is hosting some kind of Halloween thing for kids of employees. I’ve decided that this would be the perfect time for a ½ day off. The last thing I need is to try to work while 20+ ankle-biters hopped up on sugar run around the office begging for food. Now those of you who know me know that I pretty much ignore Halloween, doing my best to make it a non-event. I won’t call it a holiday, because training minors to beg for food while threatening violence is not my idea of a holiday. It also reinforces most parents mistaken notion that their offspring are cute and that everyone wants to see them. This is a fallacy that should be dispelled.

Now, my absence is not being met with universal envy. It seems that some people, who tend to be parents, are interested in having me stick around for the event. It has even been suggested that if TNG brought the staff from the local Hooters that I might be willing to stay. I quickly countered that the odds of that happening when people were bringing in impressionable tykes were miniscule, so I didn’t even need to answer that. A counter offer was made of Roy Williams & Dean Smith instead. This one might actually work, so long as they could be sequestered in a conference room, and the kiddies were kept out. Yep, these are the conversations that take place in the office. The other thing that would be a possibility would be if the kids would be kept in a conference room, blindfolded and tied to chairs. I just don’t think either one is a realistic possibility, particularly since I saw something about a “parade”. Apparently people aren’t taking enough sick days, so TNG wants to give you the chance to get some little kid snot on everyone’s desk to assist in this process.

That’s enough for one night. Plus, the towels are done. Have a good one, y’all.